LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

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HOLLINGER 
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MIU. RUN F3-1543 



THE SOUTH IN DANGER. 



-^ y READ BEFORE YOU VOTE. 



IV 



/ 



^' / ADDRESS OF THE 'democratic ASSOCI.VTIO.N OF WASHIXGTOX, D. C 



There ne>er was a period when the South was in so much danger as at ihis moment. To procure 
tSw Abolition vote for Henrv Clay, we will show that the Whig party cit'thr North, their leading pres»- 
ea, legislative bodies, and statesmen, have denounced the South, they have held up slavery as a crirne, 
they have promised a speedy union to eflect its o\erthrow with the AbolitionisU, and hava joined with 
them in holding tip the .South lo "bloquy and reproach. The means used by this new coalition arc to 
represent the people of the South lo their sister Slates and to the world as disgraced and degraded by tile 
inetitution of slavery, and as unworthv cf ('hristian communion am! social intercourse. Already thin 
demoniac feeling has dissolved the Methodist churcli, and other Ainc riran churches are threatened with 
a similar fate. The object is to inhno the South, to render us infamous, to put the mark of Cain upon our 
forehead, and to deprive us of character first, as the means of despoiling us of our property arterwarda. Men 
of the South, the effort is to disgrace and degrade you and y our children ibrever. That such a party exists in 
the North, is conceded. They denounce you in their presses, petitions, and 'jieechcs, as mar>-stealers, as 
robbers, as flesh-jobbers, as slave-breeders, ais convict criminals, as vile and infamous, asunworthyof Chris- 
tian or social communion, and, finally, as existing only by sutferance as a part ol the Union. Now if, as 
we shall demonstrate, the party which thus denounces'thc South is c^jurlcd by the Whig party of the 
North, if they are assured, as we shall show, by the MTiigs of the North, that their views are identical 
with those of the Abolitionists, that thev are only using different means to accomplish the same object, 
tnd that the abolition of slavery will be' more certainly effected h> the election of Clay than that of Bii- 
ney, eurely you cannot continue united as a party with the Whigs of the North, who thus join with yotir 
enemies to disgrace and degrade you. If the leading Whig statesmen of the North dcnoimce you as cui- 
pnU and criminals, and, immediately succccjing this denunciation, these your avowed enemies are nom- 
inated and elected as Governors, as members of Consrress .ind of the State Legislatures, by the Whig party 
of the North, can you contuiue united with such a party; and if you do, are not your own votes joined 
with thote of your enemies in subiecling vou to disgrace and degradation' But let us to the proof; and 
we extract from the National Intelligencer, republished in the Liberty Legion, the following addrets en 
the subject of Texas, by tn entv-one members of Congrcxs, "// friends of Mr. Clay, nil of whom, since 
their condemnation cf you, have been sustained by the united vote of the W hizs of the North : 

" We hesitate not to say, that annexation, effected by any act or procrcdiiig of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, or any of its departments, would be identical mth dissolution It would be a eolation 
of our national compact, its objects, designs, and the great elementary principles which entered 
into its formation, of a character so deep und fundamental, and would be an attempt to eternize 
an institution and a power of a nature so unjust in themselves, so injurious to the interests and ab- 
horrent to the feelings of the people of the free States, as, in our opinion, not only inevitably to result ina 
dissolution of the Union, but fully to justify it; and ^ve not o>nh assert that the people of the free Statoe 
'ought not to submit to it,' but we sav. with confidence, they would not submit to it. We know tlieu- 
present temper and spirit on tbjs subject too well to beUeve for a moment that they would become parliups 
criminia in any such subtle contrivance for the irrrcmediable perpetuntion of an institution which the \Ti6e»t 
and best men who formed our Federal Constitution, as well from the sla^c as thefi-ec Sutes, regarded at 
an nil and a curse, soon to become extinct under the operation of laws to be passed proliibiting tlie slave 
trade, and the progressive influence of the principles of the Revolution." 

"John(juincyAdains,cf Massachusetts; ScthM Gales, of N. York: William S'bde, of Vermont, WiL 
llam B. Calhouii, of Massachusetts; Joshua R. Giddings, of Ohio; Sherlock J. Andrews, of Ohio; Na- 
thaniel B. Borden, of .Massachusetts; Thomas C. Chittenden, of New York; John Mattocks, ofVermonti 
Christopher .Morgan, of New York; Joshua M. Howard, cf Michigsn; \ ictory iiiidseye, of New York; 
Thomas A. Tomlinson, of New York, Staley N. Clarke, of New York; Charles Hudson, of Massachu- 
»ette; Archibald L. Linn, of New York; Thomas W. Williams, of Connecticut; Truman Smith, of Con 
netticul; David Eronson, of .Maine; Georec N. Briggs, of Maasachutctls; and Hiland Hall, oi Vermont 
" WiSBiXGTOx-, .VdrcA 3, 1843.'' 

Of the MTiig members of Congress who signed this address, (for it was scorned and denounced by the 
Democrats, ) each one was elected by the Whig party, each of them is still ^ Wliig, an ardent friend of Henry 
Clay, and each of them has been sustained since this denunciation of the South by his ^\ hig constituents of 
the North, thus endorsing these hbels upon us and our institutions. These Whig members of Congiesa ds- 
nouiiccd slavery "ai an evilanda curse," as an institution '•unju»t. injurioubt-T the interes-ts and aMorrenf 
lo the feelings of the people ofthefiree States;" and, finally, thev declared that the attempt to sustain it by 
the annexation of Texas would "fully justify a dissolution of the Union." If these charges are true, they 
disgrace and degrade the South. Yet they were made by 21 leading Whig friends of ^Ir. Clay in Congress, 
tnd endorsed subseijuently by their Whig constituents. Nearly ail cf the^e twenty-one members wore sus- 
tained for i»-election by their Whig constituents, or those who did not return again to Cnngressthey ele- 
vated to higher stations. Thus, Mattocks, in Sept. 1S43, and Slade, in Sept 1844, were elected by tlie 
Whigs as Governors of Vermont, and Briggs, in Nov. 1843, asGovemor of Massachusetts. Such are the 
allies with whom the Whigs of the Soutli are asked to co-operate in the election of Henry Clay. Such is 
•Jw party in the North, whom the Whigs of the South are asked to place in power — t'nus sustaining the 
enemies who denounce, instead of their friends, the Democrac) of the North, who sustain and defend the 
South and their institutions, 

Mr. Giddinga, of Ohio, one of the twenty -one Whig members of Congrejs who issued the above ad- 
dress; in his speech in Congrees on the 1st May. 1844, against the annexation of Texas, aays: 



2 -^-^ 

"A long Ui of public seme*, in which he (Mr. Clay; has shown himself honeat and indspendcnt, 
gives the country the best possible aasuranc* that be will maintain those right* to which I have alluded, 
and will wipe oal the fo'U disgrace already brought upon our national character, by attempting to make 
slavery and the slave trade a subject of national support." Mr. Birney. if elected, and were in possession 
of Mr. Clay's talents and experience, could no no mohl W. H. Seward, tlie last Whig Governor of 
New York, and an ardent supporter of Mr. Clay, thus .speaks and writes in the name and with the 
sanction of the entire Whig party of New York. The New York Tribune, a leading Whig and Clay 
organ, of August 5, ISll, contains the letter of Gov, Seward of July 8, 1841, to the Whig mass meet- 
inz of Waterville, published and endorsed by thorn as a part of their proceedings, m which he says; 
"Our adversaiies (the Democrats) are broken up in their central councils and in their caucus cohesion, 
Tljey have committed themselves, beyond retreat, to the extens,ion and fortification of human slavery" — 
that is, to the ncquisHiunof Texas; and he conclude* by saying: " Once compel our countrymen to ad- 
mit that the Waio p.inTv are, as they truly are, the p.iiiTr of EMiKC!r.iTiiiK and of progress, and we 
shall no longer have to complain of any portion of our fellow-citizens, that they strike down the arm 
which upholds republican institutions, and controls them for the public welfare." 

In his sjjeech of 1 3th July, 18 14, to the great Whig Syracuse Convention of New York, and received by 
them with unbounded applause, Governor Seward says to that portion present who were Abolitionists: 
"I have always beheved and trusted that the Whigs of America would come up to the ground you haTOso 
nobly assumed; not that I supposed or beheved they would all at once, or from the same impulses, reach 
that ground; but thai the progress of events would surely bring them there, a.nd they would assume it 
cheerfully. That consummation has come. All that is dear to the Whigs of the United States, in regard 
to policy, to principle, and to administration, is now involved with your own favorite cause, in the present 
issue, upon the admission of Texas into the Union. You have now this great, generous, and triumphant 
party on the very ground to which you have invited them, and for not assuming which prematurely you 
have so often denounced them;" and he adds : ' ' The security, the duration, the extension of slavery, all de • 
pend on the annexation of Texas. How, then, can a.ny fr'and of emancipalion '.ote for(Po]k) the Tax- 
as candidate, or withhold his vote from (Clay) the Whig candidate, without exhibiting the mere caprice 
of faction. " Such are the open appeals of the Whigs of the North, through tlieir mectuigs, presses, and 
leaders, to the Abohtionists, to vote for Mr. Clay, and overthrow slavery. The Sentinel says: " What give* 
Gov. Seward some show of right to endorse for the opinions of Henry Clay is, that in all [irobahility, in 
case of Mr. Clay's election to the Presidency, Mr. Seward has been designated to fi 1 the responsible of- 
fice of Secretary of Slate." Gov. Seward's letter, giving the pledge for Mr. Clay, dated Auburn, June 13, 
1844, and addressed to the central Whig committee of the State of Vermont, is as follows: "Renominate 
John Mattocks, (for Governor,) or if, for Ids convenience, or the public interest, it be convenient to 
chunge, then nominate some such true liberty-loving Whig, and renew your declaration that the extension 
of human slavery is at war with the principles nf the Wmo p.irtt, and that xegko EMiSciPAxio.v is 
among the great works to which thit r.niTr is devoted, and you may rest assured that the echo from 
the Green Mountains will be the most cheering sound that ever reached {Mr. Clay) the s.ir.E op Ask- 
lAKB." Well, the Whigs of Vermont did nojuinale for Governor William Slade, a most bitter Aboli- 
tionist, and did renew their Abohtion resolutions. Mr. Slade was, when Mr. Clay was Secretary of 
State, one of his confidential clerks, and in his letter of July, 1S44, accepting the nomination of the 
Whigs for Governor of Vermont, Mr. Slade says ; "I rejoice to say that I believe Henry Clay has and 
will do more to abolish slaveuv i.>' this U.vios than any other man." In his letter to the WTiig 
mass convention of Sheldon, of the 13th of July, 1844, published and endorsed by them, Mr. Slade 
says: "The 11"^;'^ //«//)/ occupy, at tliis moment, a position of unparalleled mterest. Besides their ad- 
vocacy of the measures to which they ha\e long been committed, they constitute, to all present practical 
purposes, the true ' Liberty party — because, with their great leader, they are coming to the rescue of 
the Union, by resisting the consummation of a scheme, whose avowed object is to augment the power 
of slavery, and fasten its rule irrevocably on the country. 

" But there is a new and fearfully important question, which has been suddenly thrcrwn before the 
ocuntry, to be decided in the present contest I mean the queshon of annexing a foreign nation to oui 
C5onfederacy — a question involving, as it seems to me, nothing less than the very existence of this Union. 
The consummation of this project, which awaits tlie triumph of our opponents m this year's contest, will 
be tantamount to an act declarinir the Union dissolved;" and .Mr. Slade adds: "I need not sav that the 
success of our opponents m this Presidential election would be the success of this measure. I'Tioir can- 
didate has been selected for the express purpose of carrying it. He is committed to it irrevocably. And 
where is Henry Clay' Opposed to it, and opposed for reasojis of perpetual force." The leaduig %\Tiig 
organ of New York, the Tribune, characterizes this letter as "a commanding expression of lofty senti- 
ments and important truths." The same paper of the 6th July contahis the letter of June, 1S44, of John 
Reed, the ^^'lug Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, in which, after denouncuig Polk and Dallas as 
"ulna immediate reannexarion Texas men," denouncing the Texas letter of Mr. \\'alkcr, Senator fix)m 
JJississippi, as a "bold and ingenious appeal to ignorance and prejudice," and a "slander upon the free 
negroes," and describing Mr \Valter as the "President maker, the master spirit who dictated and con- 
trolled the measures and result of the Baltimore convention," Governor Ke«l says: "Massachusetts is 
anxious to prevent the amie.talion of Texas, because such annexation would be a palpable violation of the 
Constitution; becauee it would increase, and enlarge, and perpetuate the slave territory and slavepoiver. 
They will endeavor, and I have no doubt will be successful in glvmg their electoral vote for Messrs. Clay 
and Frclinghuysen, for President and Vice President." "They would reject the proposition to annex 
Texas to tlie United States, because it is imconstitutional and unjust, and above all things would avoid 
the secret, cunning, insidious, base machinations of the Texas policy oi^thisday of dishonor and disgrace." 
" Will you, who denommste yourselves of the Liberty party, examine and consider the points and sugge*- 
tionsl have ventured to make. I beg you to come t« the rescue. Participate in the gre«t revolution and 



teiorm which I truol in God ia about to take place. You cnnoot choose Mr. Bimsy. We are, aa fer as I 
know, agreed in our political vietvs, as to the policy of the Government generally, anJ most assuredly are 
agreed as to the awful consequences which would inevitably result in the event of the annexation of Texas. 
If Mr. Polk 15 elected, Texas will be annexed. I repeat, unite with us, and share the glory of defeating 
the Texas plot, and saving the country. 

"In reviewing these things, I have often expre.sssd the opinion, that at least a portion of the Liberty 
party would unite nith us in the choice of President and Vice President. / take snli^fuclion in cher- 
iiU g the hope. Very respectfully, JOHN REED." 

The Xew York Tribune of August conL-iins the letter of John Quincy .\dams, dated July 29, 1814, 
in which, speaking of what he calls "the slave mongering Texas treaty," and the determination of 
England to abolish slavery in Texas and throughout the world, ho says: " We are yet to learn with 
what ears the sound of the trumpet of slavery was listened to by the British Queen and her roinisifiis. 
We are yet to learn whether the successor of EUzabeth on the throne of England, and her Burleighs 
and ^^'aIsinghaIn3, upon hearing that their avowed purpose to promote universal emancipation and the 
extinction of slavery upon the earth is to be met by the man robbers of our own country with extermi- 
nating wai', will, lij;e craven cowards, turn theii- backs and flee, or eat their own words, or disclaim the 
purpose which they have avowed." At the great Whig mass meeting at Springfield, Massachusetts, on 
the 10th August, 1844, Mr. Choate, the Whig United States Senator, said: •• Does not every stockjobber, 
landjobbev, and ^fleshjohhei; who clamors for annexation, understand perfectly that he aids his objects by 
choosinj Mr. Polk' The election of Mr. Polk will or may annex Texas as aTerritor)-. The election of 
Mr. Clay defeats or postpones it indefinitely. Read his letter upon this subject( observe the broad and 
permunent grounds of exclusion which he there sketches; advert to the well-weighed declaration, that ao 
long as any considerable opposition to the measure shall be manifested he will resist it, and you cannot 
fail to see, that unless you yourselves — tmless Massachusetts, and \''ermont, and Ohio, should withdraw 
their opposition, for his term at least you are safe, and all are safe. That letter, in my judgment, makes 
him a title to every anti Texas vote in .\merica." Such is the view taken by Mr. Choate, the Whig 
United States Senator from Massachusetts, in favor of Mr. Clay, and against Texas, and against the 
people of the South, vvhom, in the language of the Abolition journals, he compliments with the title of 

"rLKSajOBBEK." 

Mr. Webster, th.e great Whig leader in the Nortli, addressed the same meeting, and thus appealed di- 
rectly to the Abolitionists in favor of Mr. Clay : " If the third party, as it is called, ("ihe Abolilionis't.'J 
will but unite with the Wliigs in defeating a measure which both alike condemn, then, indeed, the voice 
of .Massachusetts will be heard throughout the Union." " If there he one person belonging to that third 
pai ty here, of him I would ask, what he intends to do in this crisis' If there be none, let me request 
each one of you who may know such a man, to put the question to him when you return home. No one 
can deny, that to vote for Mr. Polk is to vote for the annexation of Texas; or if he should deny, it is 
no less true. I tell you that if Polk is elected, annexation follows inevitably!" And Mr. Webster 
adi-i: "The great fundamental everlasting objection to the annexation of Texas is, that it is a scheme for 
the extension of the slaver)- of the African race." But in a still later speech to the great Whig mass 
meeting at bostsn Common, on the 1 9th September, 1811, Mr. Webster said: "There is no disguising 
it. It is either Polk and Texas, or neither Polk nor Texas. On the other side is Henry Clay. His 
opinions have been expressed on this subject of Texas." "Well, then, gentlemen, I, for one, say that, 
imder the present circumstances of the case, I give my vote heartily for Mr. Clay; and I say I give it, 
among other reasons, because he is pledged against Texas. With his opinions on mere incidental points 
I do not now mean to hold any controversy. I hold, unquestionably, that the annexation of Texas does 
tend and will tend to the existence and perpetuation of .\frican slaver)-, and the tyranny of race over 
race on this continent, and tlierefore I nill not go for it." "Henry Clay has said that he is against an- 
nexation unless it is called f^r by the common cuiiier.t I'fiht country, and that he is against Texas being 
made a new province, against the wishes of any cnr.siderub'e r.mnber of these States. Till then he holds 
himself bound to oppose annexation. Here is his pledge, and upon it I take my stand. He is a man 
of honor and truth, and will redeem his pledge. Yes, gentlemen, we take him at his word, and he 
dare not forfeit that word." 

This speech of Mr. Webster is since Mr. Clay's last Texas letter, and in no one of which does he 
withdraw his pledge against the annexation of Texas, " if opposed by any considerable number cf States;" 
and, as die Whig S:ates of the North will forever oppose it, Mr. Webster says "here is his pledge, 
and upjn it I take my stand." 

Mr. Webster mijht have added, as other Whig orators of the North have done, that u:!ir.ss Mexico cos- 
BE-fTS, .Mr. Clay isalsopledgedtoopposetheannexationofTexas. Now, Mexico, with her debt of eighty -four 
millions of dollars, due in England, is as completely under British influence as if she were a British 
province; and to ask the consent of Mexico is to ask the consent of England, which we all knovir will 
never be granted. Among the ite.ns of news brought by a late steam packet t'rom England, and repub- 
lisheJ in the National Intelligencer, is the following official announcement: " The Queen (Victoria) haa 
conteiTed the Grand Cross of C^hirles III oil Santa Anna, President of the Republic of Mexico." Such 
are the honors conferred by England on Santa Anna, for threatening war upon this country if we persisted 
in the annexation of Texa^s. And we are to ask the consent of Santa Anna, now a British nobleman. 
Well, then, might Mr. Webster say, that the pledge of Henry Clay against the annexation of Texas 
would never bo forfeited, for a considerable number of the States would forever oppose the annexation ; and 
Mexico, governed by the counsels of England, would never consent to it; and were not this pledge of .Mr. 
Clay certain and reliable, he would never receive the support of the Whigs of tlie North. Among the rea- 
sons urjed by Mr. Clay against the annexation of Texas, are the legislative resolutions of .Mas.5achusetts 
and Vermont Now, on what grounds do these States oppose the annexation' Upon Abolition and anti- 
slavery grounds. Thus the Legislature of Massachusetts opposed the annexation of Texai upon the 



ground, a» set forth in their first set of resolutjone, that it would ' • strengthen and extend tho e^^l6 of a »ya- 
t«m (slavrr)- ) which ie unjust in itself, in striking contra st i\ith the theory of our institutions, and condemned 
by the moral sentiment of mankind. " Vermont, in her legislative resolutions, "solemnly protc8tP5 against the 
ajineiation of Texas in any form," and again^<i the fidrnission inti this Union of any State whose Con- 
stitution tolerates domestic sUven', and " instructs her Senators to abolish slaver.' and the slave trade in 
the District of Columbia and in the Territories of tho UnlteJ States." 

The Leg;islaturee of the Whis States of Mas.'sachusotts and Vcrmcnt pass resolutions against the an- 
nexation of Texas upon the very strongest anti-slaverv' and Abolition grounds, and Mr. Clay approves, 
endorses, adopts, and sustainn them, by referring to these resolutions as a sufficient rr'ason of itself against 
the annexation of Texas. The doctrine of the Whig Legislatures of the North is, that slavery is a crime 
and a disgrace, and that the olavtholding States are not fit associates for the free States of the North; and 
Mr. Clay adopts unequivocally these resolutions, by gi ving them as an insuperable objection to the annexa- 
tion. And now how stands the ca-i-e ' By the la.vt census, the North has 13.S Representatives In Congress, 
and the South but 8S, l>eing a majority of 47 in favor of tlie North, which is still incrcaslns at every census. 
The Senate is still e^jually divided, hut Wisconsin and Iowa are both to be admitted as free States; and if 
Florida wore admitted at the same time, it would make a majority agamst us in the Senate. The only 
hope of South, then, is in the annexation of Texas, whiih would give the South a majority in the Senate, 
whilst the North maintained its preponderance in the House, and thus giv e efiectual security to the South, and 
greatlytend to preserve and perpetuate the Union, which, with tlie growing spirit of abolition in theNorth, 
would be greatly endangered by giving to the North tlie unrestrained majority in both Houses of Congieea. 
Even if , Mr. Clay were not oppo.sed to annexation, the whole Wbig party of the North are, and their success 
would be the defeat of annexation, whatever theviews of Mr. Clay might lie. But is his course free from cen- 
sure on thissuhject ' \\'ithout refcrringagain to his adoption of the Vermont and Massachusetts anti-Tcxaa and 
anti-slavery resolutions as the gi'ound of his action in opposing annexation, let us examine further his course 
on this subject. In the life of Mr. Clay, by his confidential friend and chosen biographer, Mr. Prentice, of 
Lotlisville, he says; "He CMr. Ciay) has been the slave's friend through life. In all stations has he 
pleaded the cause of .African fireedom, without fear from high or low. To him, more than to any other in- 
dividual., is owing that great revolution which ha.^ taken place on this subject — a revolution whose wheels 
must continue to move onward until thev reach the goal of univer.^al freedom." He also endeavored to di»- 
sever Kentucky from the South, by proi)iisingto insert in her Constitution a clause for the pro.=pective eradi- 
cation of .slavery from thr State, by means of a grailual einaucip.ition of those held in bondage. " See his life 
by his friend Epes .Sargent, pp. .I, 16. Where the South would have been with Kentucky against them on 
the cjuestion of abolition, let the present posture of affairs and the events of the last few years ansvver. Nor has 
Mr. Clay changed his opinion on this subje,-t, for he would not only take Kentucky, but Virginia also, from 
the South, and leave them a feeble and a defenceless minority. In his speech of the 20th January, 13S7, in 
the Hall of the House of Representatives, .Mr. (Jlay said; "If I could be instrumental in eradicating (sla- 
very) this DEEprsT STAix upon the character of our country, and removing all cause of reproach on ac- 
count of it by foreign nations; if I could only be instrumental in ridding of this rort. blot that revered 
State (Virginia) that gave me birth, or that not less beloved State which kmdiy adopted me as her son, 
I would not exchange the proud .satisiaction which I should enjoy for the honor of all the triumphs ever 
decreed to the most successful con.iueror." — Page 326. fu his speech in the Senate, on the 9th March, 
1836, recorded in Gales and Scaton's Register of Debates, vol. 1'.;, part 1, page 786, Mr Ulaysaid: "He 
contended, that, as neither VirL'inia nor .Maryland, nor both combined, could abolish slavery in the District 
of Columbia, the power, wilhn'it limitation or rrstriclion, existed only in Congress " And in the debate 
in the Senate, January 11, 1938, ".Mr. Clay thought tlie Senator from South Carolina would not declare 
that it would he unconstitutional for Congress to abolish slavery in the Distri.-t or Territories." But the 
Senator from South Carolina did deny the power, as does Mr. Polk and every Southern Senator. It is said, 
however, Mr. Clay deems it inexpedient to exercise the power; but, as he opposes the exercise of the veto 
power on questions of expediency, what safeguard tvould the South have in his views on this subject, when 
he distinctly informs the Abolitionists that Congress docs possess the constitutional power to abolish slaver}' 
in the District of Columbia and in the Territories of the United States' On the 9th March, 1836, Mr. 
Clay voted in the Senate of the United States in favor of the rereption of .\bolition petitions. — Senate Jour- 
nal, p. 210. On the 2d of June, 183G, he voted ag.iinst the engro.ssment of the bill preventing the trans- 
mission of incendian,' Abolition documents through the mail: and on the 8th June, 1 936, he voted against 
the passage of that bill, so importaat to the safety of the South. — See Senate Journal of that year, pp 40ft 
and 416. In his speech at Lexington. Ky., in .September, 1836, printed under his own eye, in one oThis 
friendly presses, the Lexington Intelligencer, and also printed in Niles's Register of the 1 7th September 
1836, Mr. Clay says: "I consider slavery as acnrse — a cur.ic to the master; a wrong, a grievous wTong, 
to the slave In the abstract it is all wrong, and no possible .cuntingency cm make it right." Here Mr. 
Clay deliberately denounces slavery as " a curse^'' "a wrojig, a^rievou:/ wrongs to the siuve,-" and, to 
cap the climax, he adds, "mi ponsib/e contingency can make if right." What stronger encouragement 
can .Abolition ask than this' .Men of the South, do you consider'that you, as charged by Mr. Clay, are 
offering "a grievous wrong to the slave'" If so. write the irrevocable sentence of your owm acknowledged 
guilt and self-degradation, by electing to the higheat office in your gift the very man who has thus con- 
denmcd. rebuked, and denounced you. And when you have done the deed, and the rejoicing shouts of 
Vermont, and Mass-achusetts, and the other Whig States of tlie Nortli, triumphant, by your aid, over 
your friends, the prostrate Democracy of the North, shall proclaim to you, in the language of your President, 
ABOLISH sLAVEriT, wliich you yourselves will thus have declared "a ouievocs whoxo to the slate," 
"and .no possible cosTi.vuExcr CAN MAKE IT HKiHT," what will he your answer, and how will you 
e-'oape the sentence of your own self-condemnation? Reflect, then, Whigs of the South, our brethren 
and fellow-citizen.s, pau.sc and consider well all the dreaJful consequences, before you sink us all together 
into one common abyss of niin and degradation. JAMES TOSVLES, Chairman. 

Wasui.vgtox Ci-ri, September 25, 1841. C. P. SENGSTACK, fkcretary. 



LOCOFOCO HONESTY. 



Washington, October 1, 1844. 
I observe in ilie Globe of last iiiglit llie following card : 

"B18E Waio FoBoEBT— Notice to rar. DsMociiiCT.— We undorstand that the Whig franking 
«nd publishing committee are now having printed at the otSce of the National Intelligencer forty thou- 
sand copies of a document headed 'The Suura i.v Dasoeb,' purporting to he issued by the Democratir 
ABsociation of this city. This is a base forgery. We have authorized no such use of the title of our 
a««>ciation to anv document issued under the auspices of the Whig Congressional franking committee. 
If, therefore, the Democracy of the free States should find any document of the character such as the 
title of this might indicate in circulation amongst them, they will denounco it as a Whig forgery, and 
treat tlie trick us it deserves. Thus will the people of the country under.stand the morals of the party 
we have to deal with. This trick of these political Munchausens is on a par with the Roorback romance 
just published by one of their leading journals. 

" We believe it to be our duty to put the Democracy on their guard against this forgery; and we trust 
that the Democratic papers throughout the country will republish this card." 

" JAMES TOWLES, Chairman Ex- Com. Dem. Association. 

" C. P. SENGSTACK, Secretary." 

Now these are (he facts in relation to this matter. A docuniunt of four 
pages, iieadcd " The South in dun'^er,'" " Read before you VoteT " Address 
of the Democratic Association of ll'ashington, D. C," and signed James 
TowLEs, Chairman, and C. P. Sengstack, Secretari/, was published at the 
office of the " .S);ff/<7/or," in this city. I have reason to believe that this 
paper was prepared by the Hon. Robert J. Walker ; certainly he carried 
large numbers of it in person to llie folding room of the United States Senate, 
and superintended the enveloping of them with a watchful eye to prevent the 
escape of a single copy ; and, after the folding was completed, had the whole, 
by his direction, sent to his boarding house. Having received several copies 
of this document, and understanding that Mr. Walker intended to circulate 
It only in the South, and to prevent, if possible, its appearance in the North, 
I thought this suireptitious and partial circulation of it would be a fraud upon 
the American people. I, therefore, sent to the office of the " Spectator''' 
(where it was pritUed) to purchase a thousand copies, which I intended to 
send into the free States. The person applying was first told that he should 
have them, but on the second application, upon the faith of this promise, he 
was informed he should not have them; and the copy which he took with 
him, to show what he wanted, was withheld from him against his consent, 
and he was farther informed that the document was not intended to be cir- 
culated here. I then carried one of the copies which had been published 
at the "Spectator" office to the otiice of the Intelligencer, and had an exact 
reprint of it struck otf, which I am now circulating, and intend to circulate, 
throughout this wide Republic. It is this reprint of a genuine Democratic 
document, put forth under the direction of Mr. Senator Walker himself — 
who has, according to his own letter to a Committee of the Democracy of 
Tennessee, duties assigned him at Washington by the Democratic party which 
forbid his absence, (see Globe of August" 26, 1844) — and which reprint is 
faithful in every particular, that this card pronounces to be a " Base Whig 
Forsery." 

I challenge Mr. Senator Walker, or any other person, to prove or to say 
that the reprint which I have caused to be made is not an e.xact and faithful 
copy of their own document. Forgery forsooth! Any newspaper in tiie 



coiuiti-y would have luvl ilie right to republish ihis papor without note or com- 
ment, and woulfl thnt hnvp. been a forgery ? Evpry day newspapers republish 
from 01 hers such articles ns they (Inein proper, and is this torgery ? All that 
custom or morals require is, tiiat the reprint shall be correct. The documents 
of the Whig Committee give the truth; they arc not intended to be read only 
by a portion of the people, or by one section of the Union to the exclusion of 
another section, and thereby produce a false impression; they are addressed to 
the whole People of the United States, without regard to sections or parties. I 
will, and so will the whole Whig party, not only concede the right, but will be 
mncli obliged to the " Democratic Association of Wasliington" or .Mr. Senator 
Walkf.r (the specially a-^signed sentinel at Washington of the whole, or at 
least iho Souihern division of the Democratic party) to reprint them, and thank 
them to do so, ;ind place a copy of each in the hands of every voter in the 
United States. Is it not a curious tact that this Association should assail tlie 
Whig Congressional Committee, and charge it with "base forgery," for aiding 
it to circulate its documents in a genuine exact I'orm ? 

But this transaction is characteristic. It is but one evidence in a thousand 
of the system of fraud, mi.-^represeniaiion, suppression, and partial circulation 
of facts and documents, so as to jjrodnce different impressions in ditTerent sec- 
tions, upon which ihe Locofoco leaders are conducting the present canva.ss. 
This card iiscif is but another instance. It says: " It", theretbre, the Democ- 
racy of the free States should find any document of the cliaractcr such as the 
title of this might indicate in circulation amongst them, tliey will denounce it 
as a Whig forgery, and treat the trick as it deserves." This admoiiiiion is 
addressed only to the Democracy of the free States, and leaves the whole 
Soutliern Democracy Xo be gulled by receiving as genuine this document, 
though it even come under the Irank of a Whig. This proves the fiauduknt 
purpose of the Democratic .\ssociaiion of Washington, and of Mr. Walkek, 
to exclude this precise document from the free States. The copies sent forth 
by the Whig Committee are Ihe identical document, word for word, letter for 
letter, and comma fir comma, with which Mr. Walker is now inundating the 
South, and which he is at the same time attempting to discredit as a forg*>ry 
in the North. .A.nd yet his card, for I must so consider it, signed by James 
TowLE.s, chairman, and C. P. Sengstack, secretary, reads a homily about 
morals ! I stand ready to prove any and all the ficts herein stated if Mr. 
Walker denies them. 

WII.LI.S GRKEN, 
Ckair/ri'in of the Whig Congressional Cominitlee. 



A LETTER FROM MR. CLAY, 



TO THE EOrrORS OF THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER. 

Ashland, September 23, 1844. 

Gentlemen: Since my nomination at Baltinioie in May last, by ilio Wliig 
Convention, as a candidate for the office of President of the United States, I 
have received many letters propounding to me. questions on pulihc nffairs, and 
others may have been addressed to me which I never received. To most of 
those which have reached me I have replied; but to some I have not, because 
either the subjects of which they treated were such as that, in respect of them, 
my opinions, I thought, iiad been sufficiently pronmlgatcd, or that they did 
not possess, iu my judgment, sufficient importance to require an answer from 
me. I desire now to say to the public, through you, that, considering the near 
approach of the Presidential election, I shall henceforward respectfully decline 
to transmit for publication any letters from me in answer to inquiries upon 
jmblic matters. 

After my nomination, I doubted the propriety, as I still do, of answering 
any letters upon new questions of public policy. Une who maybe a candidate 
for the Chief Magistracy of the nation, if elected, ought to enier upon the dis- 
charge of the iiigh duties connected with that office with ills mind open and 
unconmiitted upon all new questions wliich may arise in the course of its ad- 
ministration, and ready to avail himself of all the lights which he may derive 
from his Cabinet, from Congress, and, above all, from the public opinion. 

If, iu advance, lie should commit himself to individuals who may tliink 
proper to address him, he may deprive the public and himself of the benefit of 
those great guides. Entertaining this view, it was my intention, after my 
iiommation, to decline answering for publication all questions that might be 
propounded (o me. But, on further reflection, it appeared to me that if I im- 
{.'osed tiiis silence upon myself, I might, contrary to the uuifonu tenor of my 
life, seem to be unwilling, frankly and fearlessly, to submit my opinions to the 
public judgment. 

I therefore so far deviated from my iirst purpose as to respond to letters 
addressed to me, making inquiries in regard to subjects which had been much 
agitated. Of the answers wiiich I so transmitted, some were intended ex- 
clusively for the satisfaction of my correspondents, without any expectation 
on my part of their being deemed worthy of publication. In regard to those 
which have been presented to the public, misconceptions and erroneous con- 
structions have been given to some of them which I think they did not au- 
thorize, or which, at all events, were contrary to my intentions. 

In announcing my determination to permit no other letters to be drawn 
from me on public affairs, I think it right to avail myself of the occasion to 
correct the erroneous interpretation of one or two of those which I had pre- 
viously written. In April last I addressed to you, tVom Raleigh, a Utter iu 
respect to the jiroposed treaty annexing Texas to the United Slates, and I 
have since addressed two letters to Alabama upon the same subject. Most 
unwarranted allsgations have been made tiiat those letters are inconsistent 
with each other, and, to make it out, particular phrases or expressions have 



8 

been torn fiona iheir context, and a nieannig attributed to me which I never 
entertained. 

I wish now distinctly to say that there is not a I'eelmg, a sentiment, or an 
opinion expressed in my Raleigh letter to which I do not adh<'rc. I am de- 
cidedly opposed to the immediate annexation ol' Texas to the United States. 
I think it would be dishonorable, might involve them in war, would be dan- 
gerous to the integrity and harmony of ilip Union, and, if all these objections 
were removed, could nat be eft'ecled, according to any information I possess, 
upon just and admissible conditions. 

It was not my intention, in either ot the two letters which I addressed to 
Alabama, to express any contrary opinion. Representations had been made 
to me that I was considered as inflexibly opposed to the annexation of Texas 
under any circumstances ; and that my opposition was so extreme that I would 
not w>iivc it, even if there were a general consent to the measure by all the 
States of the Union. I replied, in my first letter to Alabama, that personally 
I had no objection to annexation. 1 thougiit that my meaning was suflici'.ntly 
obvious, that I had no personal, private, or individual motives for opposing, as 
I have none for espousing the measure, my judgment being altogether influ- 
enced by general and political considerations, which have ever been the guide 
of my public conduct. 

In my second letl-'r to Alabama, assuming that the 'annexation of Texas 
might be accomplished without national dishonor, without war, with the gen- 
eral consent of the States of the Union, and upon lair and reasonable terms, 
I stated that I should be glad to see it. I did not suppose that it was j/ossible 
I could be misunderstood. I imagined every body would comprehend me as 
intending that, whatever might be my particular views and opinions, I should 
be happy to see what the whole nation might concur in desiring under the 
conditions slated. Nothing was further from my purpose than to intimate any 
change of opinion as long as any considerable and respectable portion of the 
Confederacy should continue to stand out in opposition to the annexation of 
Texas. 

In all three of my letters upon the subject of Texas, I stated that annexa- 
tion was inadmissible except upon fair and reasonable terms, if every other 
objection were removed. In a speech which I addressed to the Senate of the 
United States more than three years ago, I avowed my opposition, for the 
reasons there stated, to the assumption, by tlie General Government, of the 
debts of the several States. It was hardly, therefore, to be presumed that I 
could be in favor of assuming the unascertained debt of a foreign State, with 
which we have no fraternal ties, and whose bad faith or violation of its en- 
gagements can bring no reproaches upon us. 

Having thus, gentlemen, made the apology which I intended, for ray omis- 
sion to answer any letters of inquiry upon public aff'airs which I may have re- 
ceived ; announced my purpose to decline henceforward transmitting answers 
for publication to any such letters that I may hereafter receive; and vindicated 
somo of those which I have forwarded against the erroneous constructions to 
which they have been exposed, I have accomplished the purpose of this note, 
and remain, respectfully, vour obedient servant, 

M. CLAY. 

Messrs. Galks <k Seaton. 



--^^v- 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



li Hi 111 II 
011 899 335 4 



HOLLINGER 

pH8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



011 899 335 4 



HOLLINGER 

pH 8.5 

MILL RUN F3-1543 



